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Topic: AHB Concern (Read 7335 times)

I have my bees ordere from R. Weaver Apiaries in Navosta , Tx. It has come to my attention that Texas has quite an Africanization problem. If anyone has ordered from them , please let me know if Uhave had any AHB problems.

If this is a concern for me , what are some of my options? Maybe order a mated queen from someone else ?

I've been keeping bees in what many consider the "heart" of AHB territory. There have been seasons when I thought my bees were behaving as thought they were AHB. In retrospect I believe I was responsible for much of the difficulty I was having then. I was too cavalier in those past seasons and created my own problems. As a precaution, I've requeened many of my hives that are closest to civilization, with commercially produced Cordovan Italian queens (so I can tell if they've been replaced) and most of my remaining hives with daughters of these commercial queens. I've still kept a few hives, in another location, with some of the original feral stock I had initially started with, more than ten years ago. On good days, most hives could be worked without a veil -- they are mostly uninterested in me as I go about tearing their homes apart. One of about six colonies that have my original feral bloodline is so runny - even without smoke - that it is nearly impossible to locate their queen and I wouldn't open them without my veil (I usually wear shorts and a T-shirt and just drop the veil on my head and let it drape over my shoulders).

I spent some time with Dee Lusby and her bees.She showed me how to determine how hot a hive is.I also bought two nucs from her good bees.All my bees are Feral some more twitchy than others.I found good Beekeeping techniques will keep most bees managable.kirko

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Maybe Im wrong but I believe you can replace your queen if you think you have AHB and just breed it out of them.

Precisely, whenever a hive exhibits characteristics that seem less than desirable, just obtain a new queen from more desirable stock, and requeen them. In about six weeks time, most of the population will be derived from their new queen. So, if that becomes necessary, perform that task, then leave them undisturbed for the requisite time, and presto-chango.

I have had some bees from B. Weaver that went psycho on me. Totally unmanageable. I did not have any genetic testing done. I just requeened them all. All of them swarmed in August in a drought and all went psycho at the same time immediately afterwards.

I have had some bees from B. Weaver that went psycho on me. Totally unmanageable. I did not have any genetic testing done. I just requeened them all. All of them swarmed in August in a drought and all went psycho at the same time immediately afterwards.

I have experienced similar issues with B Weaver bees. Another issue I had was 1 day after I released the queen of one of the packages, they absconded. A sign of Apis Melliferra Scutellata

Tends to swarm more frequently. Is more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply. Is more likely to "abscond"â€”the entire colony leaves the hive and relocatesâ€”in response to repeated intrusions by the beekeeper. Has greater defensiveness when in a resting swarm. Lives more often in ground cavities than the European types. Guards the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive. Has a higher proportion of "guard" bees within the hive. Deploys in greater numbers for defense and pursues perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive. Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing intrusion into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers

The packages that hung around become untollerable by the end of the season. I busted them apart and turned them into NUCs with new queens.

I spent some time with Dee Lusby and her bees.She showed me how to determine how hot a hive is.I also bought two nucs from her good bees.All my bees are Feral some more twitchy than others.I found good Beekeeping techniques will keep most bees managable.kirko

Kirko, well, tell us how to determine that, hee, hee, we should all know this trick to the trade.....beautiful day, and a great life. Cindi

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B Weaver is located in Navasota, Texas about an hour or so northwest of Houston right next to R Weaver. Been there over 100 yrs. Same family, separate operations. Last spring I started two packages, one from R & one from B. Weaver. The hybrid from B. Weaver superceded & got pretty nasty until it got queenright. I'm planning on requeening it in the next few weeks. I've joined two bee associations this past summer and I haven't heard anyone express any opinions about AHB problems with the Weavers' bees and several members get stock from them and plan to get packages this spring. Almost the entire state is now in AHB territory so the AHB genes are here to stay. There are some good threads on this issue on this forum & others that I have learned a lot from, the most simple one being if you don't like what you have, requeen.

Let me know when you get your bees in the hives! just gives them 2 or 3 weeks and let me know if there hot! In the state of Ar when you get your hives setup your sopost to call the state inspecter and he will come out and take a look at em just to make sure there is nothing crazy with them. I have Ed's phone# the state inspecter.

I don't know why my emails are not getting to you GRRRRRR its that dang Mv NET LOL

I live in south Oklahoma. The general consciouses here is that AHB will bread it's self out eventually. Most feral hives are still worth getting only for there resistance to mites. If you do get a HOT hive then just move it or re-queen it

So since we are talking about AHB, how far north have them gotten. I saw a map made in the 90's and it shows southern Oklahoma. Im in Coloado. Anyone know of any reports of AHB in Colorado.

If their northward progress mirrors their southward progress I do not expect them to be able to survive under the weather conditions found north of the Siskiyou Mountains that seperate Oregon and California here on the west coast. In Argentina they moved south until they hit about the same latitude in the southern hemisphere.

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AHB hives have been found and verified in West Va, and Va. Seems one Texas producer is shipping Queens w/ AHB genes. MAAREC recomends not gettting queens and packages from southern states w/ AHB unless artifically inseminated.

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